중앙데일리

CICI honors cultural ambassadors

Jan 12,2019

From left, YouTubers Ollie Kendal from “Jolly” and Josh Carrott from “Korean Englishman,” Choi Jung-hwa, the head of the Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI), YouTubers Mack and John Rock, and ballerina Park Sae-eun on Thursday at the InterContinental Seoul COEX in southern Seoul. [CICI]

Every year, the Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI) hosts the Korea Image Awards to honor groups and individuals who have contributed to promoting Korean culture abroad. On Thursday, the organization awarded the Korean language, YouTubers Josh Carrott and Ollie Kendal and ballerina Park Sae-eun at a ceremony held at the InterContinental Seoul COEX in southern Seoul.

This year’s winner of the Korea Image Stepping Stone Award was the Korean language, specifically its presence throughout cultural exports like K-pop, dramas and design, which has peaked the interest of many people abroad, giving them an entry point into learning more about Korean culture. The award was accepted by American brothers John and Mack Rock, who are known for their fluent Korean and appearances on television and YouTube. Their YouTube channel, Rock Kids, has over 20,000 subscribers.

The Korea Image Stepping Stone Bridge Award went to Carrott and Kendal for spreading Korean culture through their videos to almost 300 million people around the world and bringing Korean and English culture together. Since 2013, Carrott has been making videos about Korean food, trends, education and tourism both in Korean and English. Some of his videos introduce Korean food to Hollywood stars from movies such as “The Avengers,” “Deadpool” and “Kingsman.” He now runs a second channel with Kendal titled “Jolly.”

Lastly, the Korea Image Flower Stone Award was given to ballerina Park Sae-eun, who was recently awarded Best Female Dancer at the Benois de la Danse, known as the Oscars of the dance world, for her role in promoting Korea’s image abroad.

Park started studying ballet when she was 10 years old and claimed the first spot at the Prix de Lausanne, an international competition among young dancers. She is currently a “premiere danseuse” at the Paris Opera Ballet.